history of Peter Wright anvils

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Heard a rumor just after quadstate that at some point in time Sears and Robuck dumped a bunch of Peter Wright anvils into the Ohio river, or some other body of water. As the story goes, Sears either couldn't unload them or they closed shop in Ohio somewhere. And instead of selling all the merch, they dumped the anvils.

Anyone have any information on this or should I not bother chasing this tale?

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might have better promise than my treasure hunt for the 1600# anvil that was in the Portsmouth coke plant on the river. After a few field trips to the site and talking to locals the walmart parking lot now resides where the anvil was. More than on person saw said hunk of steel there one day then the dozers moved in and flattened the area, few days later parking lot.... best of luck on your hunt!

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I don't recall Sears ever re-selling PW's. I do remember trentons and HB's being re-sold under their brandnames though.

When I lived in Columbus OH where both A&H and Trenton anvils were made I talked with one of their workers whol told me that when the anvil factory he worked at was shut down there was a line of anvils sitting over by the steep slope to the river. I tracked down the plant and spent some time looking in the river. I found a dozen or so of the 4' diameter 1' wide sandstone grinding wheels in the river---they used to roll them down into it for fun when they got so small. Unfortunately with such a long history of early industrial use a metal detector was useless as over 1/2 of the "river" seemed to be discarded iron junk...

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Unfortunately as much of the river bed is random post industrial metal I don't think even a fancy detector would be a help---and I now live 1500 miles away. I have shared the location with a number of people though I hope one of them finds the mother load...The original factory was converted to an edible oils hydrogenation plant and is now a set of condo's.

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Lets see I got my Fisher anvil, made in NJ, in Columbus OH and got my Arm and Hammer made in Columbus OH in Springdale Arkansas. My Trenton I got in Mansfield OH---but it was originally sold in Arizona to a mine and I caught it on the way back so to speak. My Peter Wrights, made in England, I bought one in AR and one in NM. My Hay Buddens were one in OK and one in Zanesville OH. My Powell anvil, another English import was found in Columbus OH as was a Vulcan (made in IL). A sodofors swedish anvil turned up in NM and my, English, William Foster was another Columbus OH find.

OH seems to be quite cosmopolitan as far as anvils go---of course I lived there for 15 years and that reflects in the number of cheap anvils I found...

Oh yes another one a Bridge anvil, II&B--IL, I picked up in OK after an abusive life in the oil fields.

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I know this is an old post but here is my experience, in the slough next to my grandpas there is all kinds of metal "junk" the are served as a dumping ground years ago. Through the years we have found clothes irons, bottles, wagon tires as well as buggy and agricultural equipment parts to name a few. One day I was searching just for fun and pulled out a nice but rusty object I recognized as a hardy tool,though I was not quite sure, the next day I pulled out another. Long story short , I removed a dozen and a half hardy tools, punches, 1 pair of tongs, and a buffalo forge 147 post drill all of which received a heavy wire brushing and clean up and are being used in my shop. We talked to one old boy and my grandpa, turns out there was a farm shop there which got bulldozed to fill the slough a few years before my great grandfather bought the property. A neighbor remembers hanging from the horn of the anvil and cranking the forge blower for fun as a child. So far I have yet to remove an anvil but here's to hoping. It is a heck of a story and I hope you all enjoy.